Utah mother works to preserve history

As a delegate to the Utah State Republican Convention, I was invited to attend the state school board meeting on April 13 to get a better understanding of the controversial Common Core Initative supported by Gov. Gary Herbert but not his opponents.

I sat next to a woman, Lydia Nuttall, and we began a conversation while we waited for the meeting to start. Nuttall, a mother from Morgan, Utah, has been driving to Salt Lake to attend school board meetings every month for 1½-2 years. She takes copious notes of the general sessions and told me that she then moves on to the curriculum committee meetings when the opening sessions adjourn. That committment alone speaks volumes about her dedication to making certain that her children and all others receive a quality education.

Just as amazing is the fact that at the end of school last spring, she checked out all of the history books used by her district for teaching United States history in all grades. During the summer, she read all of the books to see what was being taught and what was being left out, deleted or overlooked. This year she is presenting to her community a set of history lessons covering many of those deleted stories.

Nuttall is one of my new modern-day heroes. Her committment to her children and all the children of her community, and indeed our state, is immense. She is educating herself so she will be equipped to run for her local school board and make a substantial impact on the education of the children in her community.

It is at the local level where the real education of our children takes place, and that is where the policies, standards and curriculum should be determined between parents, teachers and local administrators. It is not the responsibility of federal government bureaucrats. That is one of the reasons this Common Core Initiative is such a mistake. It takes the control away from the state and the community and places it at the federal level.

This is not only wrong, it is inefficient. Herbert has supported this initiative, and it is a huge encroachment of the federal government into our lives and strips us of our liberties. This is one reason why so many other Republican candidates are opposing him in his bid for re-election.

For families who want to check out the forgotten American family night stories, go to www.morgancityut.com. Under the 225th anniversary of America's Constitution, click on a month. There is a different lesson for each month, which will continue throughout the year.

Thanks to Nuttall for her efforts to raise the standards of education and support our rights to educate our children as we deem best — at the local level.

Kristen Price is a Republican delegate from Congressional District 4 and a real estate broker. She is part of Utah Delegates, a group of delegates tweeting and blogging about their experience being a delegate in Utah. This group was assembled by KSL and the Deseret News. Follow them on Twitter: @UTDelegates. Email: [email protected]